Utilizing parthenocarpic gynoecious beit alpha cucumber inbreds for their heterotic potential under different poly-net house environments

The present study was conducted to exploit heterotic potential and combining ability for developing early maturing, high-yielding, and good quality parthenocarpic gynoecious beit alpha cucumber hybrids tailored to specific environmental conditions. The experimental material comprised 11 parthenocarpic gynoecious beit alpha cucumber parents which were crossed to produce 28 F₁ hybrids through a line × tester mating design, plus two commercial check hybrids (PKH-11 and Emirstar) and further evaluated for yield and quality attributes under two different environments (winter and summer seasons) in a poly-net house. The mean sum of squares due to genotypes, environments, and G × E interaction was found significant (p ≤ 0.01) for all the traits, except for the G × E interaction in fruit diameter. The wide range of variability for yield and quality traits provided an opportunity to select hybrids suitable for across the environments. The nature and magnitude of heterosis was estimated over two commercial checks and tester's contribution was found highest in line × tester analysis for almost the studied traits. Based on the results of pooled environments, it was concluded that parental lines PBRK-16, PK-1 and testers PBRK-8, PBRK-1 exhibited superior and stable performance on the basis of mean performance, GCA effects for yield and its contributing traits. On basis of heterosis, mean performance and SCA effects, the cross combinations PBRK-16 × PBRK-8, PBRK-16 × PBRK-1 and PBRK-16 × PBRK-18 were found to have stable performance for fruit yield and number of fruits per plant. However, fruits of hybrid PBRK - 16 × PBRK-8 were shorter in length and more in thickness which will get least market acceptance by stakeholders. As medium size beit alpha type fruits are mostly preferred in market having fruit length of 15-18 cm and fruit weight of 125-170 g. Therefore, F₁ hybrids PBRK - 16 × PBRK-18 and PBRK - 16 × PBRK-1 having desirable fruit length and diameter can be released for commercial cultivation in poly-net house for both the seasons. The non-additive gene effects and low narrow-sense heritability for most of the traits studied, indicating that heterosis can be effectively utilized for their improvement. Hence, these promising hybrids can also be utilized in segregating generations to identify pure lines with high yield and superior fruit quality. Furthermore, the year-round cultivation of these promising hybrids can significantly increase farmers' profitability, strengthen food security, and more effectively meet market demands.